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BERNARD HOPKINS: I WILL BEAT HIM EASIER THAN I BEAT TARVER
By G. Leon
"Dawson is just a lil' better than Robert Allen"
GL: What's the latest and greatest X? How is everything in going in preparation for your October 15 HBO PPV showdown with Chad Dawson? "Everything is going good here Greg, we're on our busy schedule like we've been for the last five weeks. I'm just coming down to the final stretch as far as training, and after 10 years you know you're getting before the rest of the media next week. But I feel good, I feel more rejuvenated than ever before. Sparring has been fantastic and I cannot wait to put on another ageless performance."
GL: What do you feel is your biggest advantage coming into this fight?
Bernard Hopkins: "My IQ."
GL: In your opinion has Dawson's IQ stagnated or decreased from a few years back when he was fighting Adamek and first fought Tarver?BH: "Far as his level and where he's at, he's right where he needs to be. But I set the bar so high that to me, I go by his last performance and that was a B. I gave him a B and I know he was trying to work on some new things with Emanuel Steward. I can rate him as one of the top light heavyweights out there, but there's not a whole pool out there like when I was representing the middleweights. You had a pool of three or four guys who could have been champion if I wasn't there. I will say this, he still brings everything he brought two years ago when they were trying to shove him down my throat for charity. Now I've created an atmosphere where I give him a higher lesson and do him a favor by putting a few more bucks in his pocket than he would have made then. I'll say this man, I will say I'm coming to put on a performance and I hope he is, because that will bring out the best in Bernard Hopkins.
"When guys come and they're trying to prove a point that it's their time, then I will be at my best. I just can't dance without having a dance partner. I can, but when you're stepping on your dance partners feet it's not going to look as good."
GL: Your track record against southpaws speaks for itself. As a student of the game where you rank Dawson amongst the southpaws you've already faced?
BH: "I fought a lot of southpaws Greg, I'll say he's about the tallest southpaw I fought, but he don't fight tall. I will say he's a little bit better than Robert Allen, but just a lil' bit."
GL: Earlier you said that your biggest advantage was your IQ? Would you care to elaborate or do you prefer to leave it at that?
BH: "I think I can leave it at that. People know what I mean. They know what IQ means. I will just show the level of where I'm at compared to where he's at. That doesn't make him a bad fighter. It just shows that this is one stage of a guys career and this is another stage of a guys career. You don't take a Mercedes to race a Ferrari and I'm that Ferrari.. The Mercedes is a good car, it's fast, but the Ferrari speaks for itself."
GL: How much longer can you compete at the highest level?
BH: "As long as I'm motivated and it's a challenge and I have something to prove, which I have on October 15. I'm going to prove that not only can I win the light heavyweight championship, I can defend in grand fashion like the Ol' Mongoose Archie Moore. I'm not looking at time right now, I'm just saying once there's nobody to bring that challenge to me and I don't have the spirit to train as hard as I do, because I can make a person tired by watching me train, I'm not going to disrespect this game or go through it half heartedly and not being motivated because that's when you get hurt. That's when you embarrass yourself and that's when you do it for the wrong reason. That's not my style. I'm a real proud person and Greg you've known me for many years. Anybody who reads knows that you could love me or hate me, but at the end of the day I will not go into a situation where I will embarrass myself."
GL: This fight is taking place on HBO PPV, what is your expectation PPV buy wise and are you disappointed that a one of a kind living legend like yourself wasn't provided with any 24/7?
BH: "Not really. I mean, the PPV is going to do what it's going to do. If it does more than 200,000 something buys that's ok. I'm guaranteed what I'm guaranteed and my contract is not predicated on PPV. I'm good, the PPV is just the gravy. I came into this deal with Jean Pascal already with the Chad Dawson numbers, so I'm cool. Chad Dawson might not be in that situation, but I'm good. Anything that comes out from PPV, I hope the fans are watching, but I call that extra gravy. The people who thought I didn't want to fight Chad Dawson are going to have their mouth open and after the fight they're going to be saying he beat Chad Dawson even easier than he beat Antonio Tarver."
GL: Gravy is an interested word. After all of you've accomplished is Chad Dawson the gravy on your legacy?
BH: "He is gravy, but I always have something to prove and he's a page that is going to be added to the stacked legacy and the stacked history that I'm putting in the book. He ain't just somebody that I'm going in just to do it, I have something to prove to the point where a lot of people out there were thinking I was ducking this guy. I just want to show people I was never ducking this guy. I beat Jean Pascal twice and really didn't fight Chad then because I wasn't motivated. All the fans have to do is look through our interviews in the archive. I mean if the guy couldn't sell in Hartford, Connecticut and he can't sell out where he lives, what am I fighting him for? I sold 14,000 plus when I fought Howard Eastman in my twentieth middleweight defense in Los Angeles. The 40 and up club is alive and well in boxing. That's my brand. My brand is anybody going onto forties or in their forties or older is supposed to be rooting for me at all times. This is not normal. If I have to **** my own drum, I will and I will continue to tell people that I AM NOT NORMAL.
GL: We're going to leave it at that. I don't even want closing thoughts.
By G. Leon
"Dawson is just a lil' better than Robert Allen"
GL: What's the latest and greatest X? How is everything in going in preparation for your October 15 HBO PPV showdown with Chad Dawson? "Everything is going good here Greg, we're on our busy schedule like we've been for the last five weeks. I'm just coming down to the final stretch as far as training, and after 10 years you know you're getting before the rest of the media next week. But I feel good, I feel more rejuvenated than ever before. Sparring has been fantastic and I cannot wait to put on another ageless performance."
GL: What do you feel is your biggest advantage coming into this fight?
Bernard Hopkins: "My IQ."
GL: In your opinion has Dawson's IQ stagnated or decreased from a few years back when he was fighting Adamek and first fought Tarver?BH: "Far as his level and where he's at, he's right where he needs to be. But I set the bar so high that to me, I go by his last performance and that was a B. I gave him a B and I know he was trying to work on some new things with Emanuel Steward. I can rate him as one of the top light heavyweights out there, but there's not a whole pool out there like when I was representing the middleweights. You had a pool of three or four guys who could have been champion if I wasn't there. I will say this, he still brings everything he brought two years ago when they were trying to shove him down my throat for charity. Now I've created an atmosphere where I give him a higher lesson and do him a favor by putting a few more bucks in his pocket than he would have made then. I'll say this man, I will say I'm coming to put on a performance and I hope he is, because that will bring out the best in Bernard Hopkins.
"When guys come and they're trying to prove a point that it's their time, then I will be at my best. I just can't dance without having a dance partner. I can, but when you're stepping on your dance partners feet it's not going to look as good."
GL: Your track record against southpaws speaks for itself. As a student of the game where you rank Dawson amongst the southpaws you've already faced?
BH: "I fought a lot of southpaws Greg, I'll say he's about the tallest southpaw I fought, but he don't fight tall. I will say he's a little bit better than Robert Allen, but just a lil' bit."
GL: Earlier you said that your biggest advantage was your IQ? Would you care to elaborate or do you prefer to leave it at that?
BH: "I think I can leave it at that. People know what I mean. They know what IQ means. I will just show the level of where I'm at compared to where he's at. That doesn't make him a bad fighter. It just shows that this is one stage of a guys career and this is another stage of a guys career. You don't take a Mercedes to race a Ferrari and I'm that Ferrari.. The Mercedes is a good car, it's fast, but the Ferrari speaks for itself."
GL: How much longer can you compete at the highest level?
BH: "As long as I'm motivated and it's a challenge and I have something to prove, which I have on October 15. I'm going to prove that not only can I win the light heavyweight championship, I can defend in grand fashion like the Ol' Mongoose Archie Moore. I'm not looking at time right now, I'm just saying once there's nobody to bring that challenge to me and I don't have the spirit to train as hard as I do, because I can make a person tired by watching me train, I'm not going to disrespect this game or go through it half heartedly and not being motivated because that's when you get hurt. That's when you embarrass yourself and that's when you do it for the wrong reason. That's not my style. I'm a real proud person and Greg you've known me for many years. Anybody who reads knows that you could love me or hate me, but at the end of the day I will not go into a situation where I will embarrass myself."
GL: This fight is taking place on HBO PPV, what is your expectation PPV buy wise and are you disappointed that a one of a kind living legend like yourself wasn't provided with any 24/7?
BH: "Not really. I mean, the PPV is going to do what it's going to do. If it does more than 200,000 something buys that's ok. I'm guaranteed what I'm guaranteed and my contract is not predicated on PPV. I'm good, the PPV is just the gravy. I came into this deal with Jean Pascal already with the Chad Dawson numbers, so I'm cool. Chad Dawson might not be in that situation, but I'm good. Anything that comes out from PPV, I hope the fans are watching, but I call that extra gravy. The people who thought I didn't want to fight Chad Dawson are going to have their mouth open and after the fight they're going to be saying he beat Chad Dawson even easier than he beat Antonio Tarver."
GL: Gravy is an interested word. After all of you've accomplished is Chad Dawson the gravy on your legacy?
BH: "He is gravy, but I always have something to prove and he's a page that is going to be added to the stacked legacy and the stacked history that I'm putting in the book. He ain't just somebody that I'm going in just to do it, I have something to prove to the point where a lot of people out there were thinking I was ducking this guy. I just want to show people I was never ducking this guy. I beat Jean Pascal twice and really didn't fight Chad then because I wasn't motivated. All the fans have to do is look through our interviews in the archive. I mean if the guy couldn't sell in Hartford, Connecticut and he can't sell out where he lives, what am I fighting him for? I sold 14,000 plus when I fought Howard Eastman in my twentieth middleweight defense in Los Angeles. The 40 and up club is alive and well in boxing. That's my brand. My brand is anybody going onto forties or in their forties or older is supposed to be rooting for me at all times. This is not normal. If I have to **** my own drum, I will and I will continue to tell people that I AM NOT NORMAL.
GL: We're going to leave it at that. I don't even want closing thoughts.